Arizona House Speaker David Gowan announced Monday his candidacy for Congress in eastern Arizona, becoming the third prominent Republican to enter the race for the 1st District seat.

Gowan said his campaign message will be "respect the West."

"While most candidates rely on promises of what they will do, I prefer to be judged on my conservative record and leadership," Gowan said in a written statement. "As your congressman, I will continue working to shrink the size and scope of government, I will fight to restore our Constitutional rights, I will make securing our borders the priority it ought to be, and I will work to ensure that our government’s focus is on getting out of the way of the private sector."

Gowan said he would push to defund Planned Parenthood and block the education standards known as Common Core. He cited as a conservative success helping in the Legislature to cut the state budget by $2 billion over seven years.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu also launched his campaign for the swing-district seat on Monday, and former Secretary of State Ken Bennett filed his candidacy over the summer. The fourth Republican in the race is rancher Gary Kiehne, who fell short in the 2014 primary.

On the Democratic side, only Tom O'Halleran, a former GOP lawmaker, has announced.

Gowan painted his competitors -- "a good field of nice candidates" -- as conservatives in boast only.

"Some have no record, some have small records, and some have mixed records," he said. "The biggest difference between us all is that with me, the voters know they can rely on my campaign promises to be kept."

In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Gowan directed veiled jabs at Babeu. The speaker said no one else in the race is as socially conservative as he is and highlighted border-security and immigration legislation he has authored, namely as a primary sponsor of the controversial enforcement bill known as Senate Bill 1070.

Gowan, who does not live in the district, said he still understands the issues. His legislative seat includes a section of Graham County in the congressional district.

"My legislative district is a ranching, farming, mining, suburbs district, and it matches so well with my congressional district I'm running in now," he said. "Me being a rural guy and showing my rural roots and the votes I've done and taken certainly mirror that congressional district."

The Gowan campaign said the speaker does not plan to resign from office to run. He was elected to the Legislature in 2008.

Gowan is the third Arizona House speaker to run for a congressional seat in as many election cycles. Andy Tobin lost in the 1st District in 2014 -- after enduring attacks for not living within the district boundaries -- and Kirk Adams lost in the 5th District in 2012.

The 1st District sprawls across eastern and northern Arizona. It is considered one of the most competitive in the country, given its nearly even split between Republican and Democratic voters. The seat is open as U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., runs for Senate.

National Democrats took shots at both of Monday's newcomers to the race.

"Paul Babeu and David Gowan getting into this race creates a four-way primary that will be a disaster for Arizona Republicans," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Tyler Law said. "The late primary date guarantees a very long, divisive, and expensive primary that will send the Republican nominee limping into the general election."